Midnight Red
by Auraya-of-the-White
Summary: Jane's plan to catch a killer goes wrong and he feels responsible. One shot. Little dialogue. Slight Jane/Lisbon if you use your imagination.


**AN: Just something that popped into my mind, after being on the Mentalist boards. Sorry for any errors, it is unbetaed. Read and enjoy.  
**

It had been a brutal killing. His body had been so bashed up that identification had been nearly impossible. It was pure luck that his DNA had been in a bone marrow data base. The murder weapon had been a hammer lying on the workbench in the garage right next to his body covered in his blood. Since he was a highly respected member of the community, a trustee of the township, the CBI was called in to solve his murder.

The first suspect had been the wife, the most obvious choice. Jane took one look at her and dismissed her from the list of suspects. She was truly grieving.

At his workplace, Jane paged through his planner and flipped through the piles of paper on his desk, an unorganized mess.

He looked through his car, the red pickup still parked in front of his house. Something caught his eye. Sparkles, glittering on the passenger seat, he saw them out of the corner of his eye. He must have cheated on his wife with a stripper, he thought after finding a used condom under the seat. He turned to search for a jealous lover. At least that was until they found a second body, the stripper whose "colleagues" admitted she was having an affair with a married man.

Then they found a third and fourth, a man and a woman, partially undressed both dead in the man's car. Both were shot in the head and severely beaten. Both were having affairs. It was decided that they had a serial killer on their hands. Luckily Cho found a lead; all of them had been seen up top the local make out hill right before their deaths. When investigating the scene, a pile of cigarette butts in the woods led the team to believe she had waited patiently, spying on her victims. There was red lipstick on the end of each cigarette. The shade was Midnight Red the lab said. It had rained much recently so no DNA could be recovered from them. She must have watched her victims and followed them to determine if they were truly cheating.

That was when Jane created his plan to lure the killer and trap her red-handed.

"How are we supposed to catch her, we have absolutely no leads, the killer could be anyone in this entire city?!" Lisbon exclaimed frustrated.

The entire team was in the CBI headquarters trying to find a way to catch this murderer. Jane, as usual, was lying on the brown couch with his feet propped up, eyes closed.

"Jane, Jane?!" Lisbon yelled, aggravated, "Don't just lay there sleeping, give us some brilliant input that you're so well known for."

Cho stood stone-faced while both Rigsby and Van Pelt tried not to laugh as Jane's eyes remained closed.

Suddenly his eyes shot open, "Quiet down, woman, I was thinking and now I have an idea. A plan one might say."

Lisbon was surprised to realize that she actually felt relieved. Most of Jane's plans had a tendency to do serious emotional damage and were filled with trickery but for once she didn't care. She just wanted to catch this slaughterer.

"It's going to require falsified background history. Lisbon and I will be having an affair. Van Pelt, my wife, Rigsby, Lisbon's husband." Jane informed them all, a wide grin on his face. Desperate to close the case, Lisbon agreed, knowing that she would regret it later.

It had all gone off without a hitch. Cho who followed Jane and Lisbon when they were out on a "date" had noticed the same car trailing behind them. She had taken the bait, hook, line and sinker.

It was rather amusing for the rest of the team to watch the varying interactions between Jane and Lisbon, when they were out undercover. His flirting, her blushing and their kissing were definite changes from their normal relationship.

A week later, they decided it was time to meet on make out hill and catch her for once and for all. Lisbon and Jane were all set with Rigsby and Van Pelt watching the nearby woods for any sign of their mystery killer.

"Got any more food? I'm hungry." Rigsby asked breaking the silence in the car.

"Just those carrot sticks you refused earlier." Van Pelt smiled holding up the plastic baggie.

Rigsby sighed and reached to grab, "I'm desperate, give them here."

Van Pelt handed them over, noticing "Over there, I see movement." She put the binoculars to here eyes, hoping there was enough light to use them by. "I make out a figure, definitely a woman, she's smoking. There's a small glow."

Rigsby picked up the radio amongst his munching and told Jane and Lisbon, "She's there, we got eyes."

"Copy that." Lisbon spoke into her radio discretely.

Jane drove the car to Lisbon's temporary house. Back-up was already in place, they weren't taken any chances. Jane got out and chivalrously opened the door for her, kissed her goodnight, and started to drive away to his house down the street. It was now or nevesr but the Midnight Red killer did not show. Jane was utterly puzzled, he thought he had a foolproof plan and here it was already going wrong. He got to his "house" and entered; still no sign of her.

He picked up the radio and got in contact with the back-up outside his and Lisbon's house, "Any one see any sign of her?"

"No, nothing, it's extremely quiet here." came back the response.

All of a sudden, wham, a huge sound filled the air causing the windows to vibrate.

The radio burst to life, crackling with sound, "Send buses, quick, several houses at the end of the block just exploded, do we hold positions or go help find survivors?"

"Let them go Lisbon, she's not showing tonight, we need to help those innocents." Jane tried to persuade Lisbon.

"Alright." she gave in reluctantly.

"Copy that, heading over to the houses now."

Jane decided to make himself a sandwich and tea while he waited.

"Jane, I hear a child crying in my front yard, I think he might be injured and the blast knocked out my power so I can't see how bad it might be."

"My power's still on. You were closer to the blast though." he mused. "I don't see why you can't go help the child, I can already tell, she isn't showing up tonight. She wants to kill us together."

"Alright, I'm going out, the radio is going to stay on in my back pocket.

Jane sat in the kitchen eating his turkey sandwich as calm as could be until he heard the gunshot. The sound came through the radio, loud and clear. It had been only a matter of minutes since the officers had left. Time seemed to freeze as Jane's mind went into overdrive. Thoughts raced through his head, he told her it was safe, he shouldn't have, he didn't have enough information, there hadn't been enough victims yet. He immediately grabbed his radio and called it in. He continued to call Lisbon's name without any response as he ran outside. Ignoring the flames from the other houses, he ran towards Lisbon's, his mind repeating one thing, my fault, my fault, my fault. He was the one who sent her out and he was the one who sent the back-up officers away.

He made it to her yard in record time, crying out in horror as he saw a body lying out on the ground. As he approached he realized it wasn't Lisbon. This person was a blonde with bright red lipstick on. The Midnight Red killer had a bullet hole straight through her heart, her blood pooling all around her and soaking through her clothes. Jane merely gave her a passing glance, noticing all the details and began to call out frantically for Lisbon. He heard a groan from by the house; he rushed towards it as sirens rang in the distance.

"Theresa!" he gasped at the bloody sight that awaited him. All that blood, she was going to die and he was responsible. His pride led to the death of his family and now to his boss, and friend. Pride would no longer rule him; he would keep a firm rein on it and make sure others agree with his assessments. He would no longer assume that he was always correct. He would make sure back-up would always be in place. A harsh sob broke from his throat as he kneeled next to her body.

"Jane, Jane!" she called loudly. "What are you doing? Come help me up. She totally clobbered me over the head." She felt the side of her head tenderly, "There's going to be a bruise there."

Jane stared at her, no, more like through her. She looked at herself and realized she was covered in blood. "Oh, the blood, it's not mine. After she hit me, I was briefly stunned, but my hard head protected me. I pulled my gun, declared myself, and then shot her after she refused to drop her gun. When I checked her pulse I managed to get blood all over myself. My head continued to throb so I went to sit against the house." she explained quickly in one breath, hoping to bring some color back into Jane's face. "This will be one very expensive drying cleaning bill." she joked looking at her suit.

"Not your blood?" Jane asked still stunned as the ambulance pulled up in front of her "house". He gave her a hand up, and was amazed to see her stand, shakily, but still she stood on her own two feet. He sighed relieved, as the EMTs went to check her head injury.

He should have paid more attention to the details; he would have noticed that it wasn't her blood. The sight of her perhaps mortally wounded had shocked him, more than he thought that it ever would.


End file.
